1. Field
The disclosure relates to a method of pretreating a biomass using internal heating, a method of producing biofuels or biochemicals using the same, and an apparatus for pretreating the biomass.
2. Description of the Related Art
With globally increasing concern about exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment by overuse of fossil fuels, new and renewable substitute energy resources for stably and continuously producing energy are being considered. In the ongoing development of such substitute energy resources, techniques for producing ethanol and other biofuels from biomass have been receiving considerable attention. Various fuels such as alcohol, diesel, and hydrogen; or chemicals such as antigens, antibodies, hormones, amino acids, haptenes, proteins and enzymes can be produced from biomass. To produce biofuel or a biochemical, such as ethanol, using biomass, pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of the biomass is performed to convert lignocellulosic polysaccharide components into fermentable sugars for fermentation.
For example, a lignocellulosic biomass can be pretreated by a physical method such as milling and steam explosion or by a chemical method such as acid or base hydrolysis. Such pretreatments are performed at high temperature and use a large amount of energy, chemicals, and industrial water, resulting in high production costs.